Six double-decker buses to be plied on tourism routes in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Double-decker buses are set to make a comeback on Hyderabad roads after two decades and this time they will be in an electric avatar.

Six electric double-decker buses are ready to be operated on important tourism routes in the city like Tank Bund, Old City and Financial District.

Hyderabad Metropolitan Urban Development Authority (HMDA) purchased these at a cost of Rs 12.96 crore.

Arvind Kumar, secretary, municipal administration and urban development, said these buses will be fully operational on important routes from a tourism viewpoint.

The buses will be introduced soon on routes covering key city landmarks like Tank Bund, Birla Mandir, Assembly, Salar Jung Museum, Charminar, Mecca Masjid, Golconda, Taramati Baradari, Gandipet Park, Durgam Cheruvu, Cable Bridge, IT Corridor and Financial District.

The buses will leave on different roads from Tank Bund and return to the same point.

Authorities initially proposed to allow people to travel in these buses free of cost. Later, the passengers will be charged Rs 50 per head for every trip.

Depending on the response, the authorities plan to operate these buses on more routes.

Three double-decker electric buses were launched in February and operated during the Formula E-prix. They were plied around the race track covering Tank Bund, Necklace Road, Paradise and Nizam College stretch.

Double Decker buses have a historical relevance in Hyderabad. The conventional double decker buses were started by the Nizam and plied in the city up until 2003.

It was in 2020 that municipal administration and urban development Aminister K.T. Rama Rao had accepted a proposal to re-introduce double-decker buses.

Rama Rao, reminiscing fond memories of traveling in those buses, instructed the officials to explore the possibility of bringing back double decker buses.

As per his instructions, HMDA placed an order for such buses.

HMDA plans to extend this fleet up to 30 buses. According to officials, the price of each bus is 2.16 crore and comes with an AMC of seven years.

The buses have a seating capacity of 65 passengers plus driver and are completely electric with a range of 150 kilometers in a single charge and can be charged fully in 2-2.5 hours. The total length of these buses is 9.8 meters and height is 4.7 meters.

Authorities have installed special charging points for these buses at Khairatabad STP and Sanjeevaiah Park.